Friday, 29 January 2016

Updated February 9, 2016
The Parklakes Wetland near Bli Bli on Queensland's Sunshine Coast had rightly been hailed as a model for private sector environmental responsibility and good corporate citizenship. Two years ago I congratulated the developers of the large Parklakes residential housing estate for establishing in its midst a vibrant habitat for waterbirds of numerous species. Parklakes adopted an illustration of a waterbird as its promotional emblem. The company reprinted some of my congratulatory blog post in its promotional material, with my approval.

Australian Little Bittern at Parklakes

Among the excellent birds that were found here was a pair of rare Australian Little Bitterns which nested at Parklakes for two seasons in succession. The cryptic Baillon's Crake was unusually easy to see and several pairs of Spotless Crakes were nesting. Other birds frequenting the wetland included the endangered Australian Painted Snipe, while small numbers of migratory Latham's Snipe were regular. Parklakes had nowhere near the wealth of birdlife found at the nearby Yandina Creek Wetlands, but it was a significant refuge nonetheless, and potentially provided habitat for some of the Yandina Creek birds displaced by that wetland's draining.

Main lagoon before development

The Parklakes Wetland was comprised of a series of lagoons, with the central lagoon providing the most significant habitat. This lagoon had a large reed bed in the centre, flanked to the east by an extensive lily pond, and to the west by a mosaic of small ponds, muddy margins and patches of aquatic vegetation: in sum, ideal habitat

Main lagoon during development

How things change. In recent weeks, this wetland has been seriously and irreparably degraded. What was recently a diverse and waterbird-rich wetland is today an aquatic wasteland. The reed bed that harboured the Australian Little Bittern pair and other rare birds has been destroyed. The mosaic of small ponds, muddy margins and other special habitats so favoured by birds has been flooded.

The Parklakes developers insist they were told by the Sunshine Coast Council that the wetland had to be "renovated". My council sources say the initiative for the changes came from the developers. Queensland Globe maps indicate that the wetland is the property of the council. Asked to clarify the situation, the developers initially said: "Does it matter? It needed fixing." Later, Parklakes said that the works were being done to comply with conditions of council approval.

The council says, effectively, that the wetland was never intended to be a wetland. Says the council: "The wetlands at Parklakes were constructed several years ago for the purpose of providing water quality treatment. It is important to recognise that the habitat resulting from the construction of the wetland, including for water birds is a valuable but secondary outcome. The ongoing management and maintenance of the wetland, while being mindful of habitat values, needs to focus on its effective functioning for the treatment of water quality."

In a 2014article in its newsletter, Parklakes boasted: "There are other subdivisions that boast parkland, but in reality it's just a mowed bit of flat grass with a park bench plonked on it. We went the opposite way and created a haven where you live within nature itself." Really? Parklakes even launched a dedicated bird book, Birds of Parklakes Bli Bli, announcing the move under a blog headline: Amazing Parklakes Birdlife Inspires New Book. The author, Mary Hines, belongs to a group called the University of the Third Age Sunshine Coast Birdwatching Group. Some of the birds featured in the book no longer visit or reside in the wetland. In view of the above-mentioned advice from the Sunshine Coast Council, Parklakes should stop calling these artificial ponds "wetlands".Another motivation for the development might be explained by the first image in this blog post. The reed bed was removed along with a strip of native vegetation which had been planted around the lagoon to provide waterbirds with privacy. As can be seen in the image, these changes allow potential buyers of newly developed residential plots to have open water views, doubtlessly boosting the value of those plots. It appears that maximising profits has overridden ecological sensibilities.

Australian Painted Snipe at Parklakes

The developers insist that the result of these changes will be a "permanent improvement" and that the former wetland "needed fixing". However, what they have created is another open, dime-a-dozen duck pond, similar to hundreds of others in residential estates, with zero ecological value. During recent visits, no birds of interest have been present at the wetland. Large numbers of Plumed Whistling-Ducks moved in for a while but even they are gone. What's left is an ecologically useless ornament.

Anyone wishing to express their views to the Parklakes developers can email them here:

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Updated January 26, 2016. Birding highlights from a couple of days in the Jondaryan-Oakey area of the eastern Darling Downs (18-19 January) included Painted Honeyeater at 4 sites, Red-chested Buttonquail, Black-eared Cuckoo, Ground Cuckoo-shrike, Black-faced Woodswallow, Plum-headed Finch, White-winged Fairy-wren at 3 sites, and numerous Brown Songlarks and Horsfield's Bushlarks.

Juvenile Black-eared Cuckoo?

Following a spate of sightings of some of these species in recent times, we booked a self-contained cabin at Jondaryan Woolshed, 3km west of the town of Jondaryan, which is central to the birding sites. First port of call was remnant brigalow just before the woolshed, where a Painted Honeyeater was quickly found.

Painted Honeyeater

On the western edge of the town were a pair of Black-faced Woodswallows, here at the eastern end of the expansive inland range of this species. Many western birds generally occur as residents no further east of this region. See here for Jondaryan-Jondaryan Woodshed species list. I was fortunate with the weather for a mid-summer visit with unusually mild conditions: max 28 on both days.

Black-faced Woodswallow

Then on to Doctor's Creek Reserve, a small area of woodland 2km south of Jondaryan at the intersection of Warrego Highway and Jondaryan-Mt Tyson Road. Chris Burwell found an immature Black-eared Cuckoo here a couple of weeks ago, along the track that follows the telegraph lines, running parallel to the highway east of Jondaryan-Mt Tyson Road.

Plum-headed Finch

This track terminates in long grass on Doctor's Creek. I photographed a cuckoo in Acacia trees (image above) about 100m before the end of the track which I initially thought was a juvenile Black-eared Cuckoo. However, following an interesting discussion on Facebook scroll down on this page there is some doubt about whether this may be a juvenile Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo. I saw and heard juveniles of both species in this area during two visits. Since then (January 25) others have found 2 adult Black-eared Cuckoos in the same spot. So at least 3 Black-eared Cuckoos appear to be present here as well as Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo.

Yellow Thornbill

More Painted Honeyeaters were in the woodland, with 2 adults and a juvenile spotted. Other birds included Red-winged Parrot, 20+ Plum-headed Finches and Yellow Thornbill. See here for Doctor's Creek Reserve species list.

Red-winged Parrot

A short distance from the woolshed, near the intersection of Jondaryan-St Ruth and Jondaryan-Evanslea roads, I found a party of 6 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes.

Ground Cuckoo-shrike

I headed north to bird the Bowenville-Norwin and West Prairie roads. The area has had good rainfall since November and there was plenty of water about.

Horsfield's Bushlark

Horsfield's Bushlark

Horsfield's Bushlark and Brown Songlark were common along these roads and elsewhere in the region, while Stubble Quail were calling in several spots. White-winged Fairy-Wrens were half way along the Bowenville-Norwin Road.

Brown Songlark male

Brown Songlark female

I had Zebra Finches in several spots. Yellow-throated Miners were along West Prairie Road; this western species occurs side-by-side with the more common Noisy Miner in the region.

Zebra Finches

Yellow-throated Miner

Twice I birded along Devon Park Road, east of Jondaryan and close to Oakey. I heard a Red-chested Buttonquail at a spot where Marie Tarrant heard a buttonquail last week. It was in lightly grazed pasture just north of the junction between Devon Park and Devon Park Boundary roads, where water crosses the road. Yellow-throated Miner was also here and parties of White-winged Fairy-wrens (another species occurring no further east of this area) were half-way along Devon Park Boundary Road, and on a track heading east, 1km north of the junction between Devon Park Road and the Warrego Highway. Some more Plum-headed Finches were also on this track.

White-winged Fairy-wren

I failed to see Black Falcons noted in the region by several observers but I had a Peregrine Falcon along Devon Park Road. It's been a long time since I've seen so many Nankeen Kestrels and Black-shouldered Kites; both species were in abundance throughout the region. I was surprised not to see more harriers: I saw a single Spotted Harrier and a single Swamp Harrier. See here for Devon Park Road species list.

Peregrine Falcon

I saw Painted Honeyeaters at two sites along the Jondaryan-Sabine Road. One bird was about 1km north of the Warrego Highway just outside Jondaryan town; the second was 1.5km further east along Jondaryan-Sabine Road. Both were in remnant roadside brigalow. These patches of scrub were heavily infested with mistletoe. To find this normally scarce bird so readily at 4 sites in a relatively small area suggests that the Jondaryan region may be an important breeding centre for the species, which has been recorded here in past years though not in these numbers.

Southern Boobook

Southern Boobook

A Southern Boobook was vocal around the woolshed at night. Presumably the same bird was roosting in the shed during the day.

Common Sandpiper

On the way home we called in to Peach's (Pechey's) Lagoon, where a single Common Sandpiper was present. This species is rare in south-east Queensland and very scarce in the Lockyer Valley. Small numbers of Pink-eared Duck and Australasian Shoveler were on the lagoon. A Pacific Baza was attending a well-fledged chick on a nest here. See here for lagoon species list.

Australasian Shoveler

Blue-billed Duck

At the Gatton University lake (Lake Galletly), a Blue-billed Duck was seen along with 8 Australasian Shovelers.

Little Red Flying-Foxes

We had travelled to Jondaryan via Kilcoy, where a very large (several tens of thousands) of Little Red Flying-Foxes were roosting on both sides of the road at the eastern end of town.

Saturday, 16 January 2016

It didn't exactly
take the breath away, but there it was. A drab, olive-green bird
sitting motionless in a heavily forested gully in Darien National
Park, in the far south of Panama. The bird was a Sapayoa, an
enigmatic bird with a family of its own, and the only one of the
world's 234 bird families that until that moment in October 2015, I
had not seen.

Now, with all 234
families in the bag, it's time to reflect; this is being written
because people have suggested I do so. I'm often asked three questions. Why chase bird families? Answer: No particular reason other than it seemed like a challenge with a difference. How difficult is it to snare them all? Answer: Quite. Will I keep chasing families if new ones are created due to taxonomic changes? Answer: We'll see, but having achieved the goal, I doubt I will feel compelled to do so.

Sapayoa - Darien National Park, Panama: Family Sapayoa (1 spp)

I'd looked for
Sapayoa before, the last time in Colombia in 2011, when our group
birded the Quibdo Road in the choco of the country's western
foothills. We saw no Sapayoas but did encounter heavily armed
Colombian troops. We learned later that the road was in a region
frequented by FARC fighters and bandits, where military conflict was
commonplace. We were told we were stupid to be there.

It's in the nature
of birding that one can be in potentially dangerous predicaments,
particularly if alone. I had been targeted by armed robbers in
Mexico and knife-wielding hooligans in Spain. I almost died of
cerebral malaria contracted in Kenya. I've been charged by elephants
and rhinos and stung by stingrays and killer hornets. Many birding
friends have similar tales.

Yet we are driven
still. Feathers in the head, it is said. Birders are a varied lot.
Some are content to keep an eye on their local patch. Others in this
country are focused on their Australian lists. There was a time, in
the 1970s and early-80s, when I would go anywhere in Australia to
twitch a vagrant. Once I was vying with John McKean and Mike
Carter for the biggest Australian list.

I had no interest in
world birding at the time, but that changed, beginning with a visit
to Papua New Guinea in 1982. Near Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands, I watched a male Blue Bird-of-Paradise
hanging upside down from a branch, shimmering in the sunlight in full display. It was and remains the most gorgeous thing I had seen; I
was hooked.

Since then I have been to Africa and Latin America 9 or
10 times each, usually on lengthy trips, and to Asia, Europe and
America on many occasions. Numerous islands from the Caribbean to the western Pacific and Indian oceans were checked out. I experienced the wonders of the Arctic
and Antarctica, staying in adjoining rooms on the same vessel for
trips two years apart to the two ends of the globe.

Adelie Penguin - Ross Sea, Antarctica: Family Penguins (18 spp)

Each of the world's
10,000+ bird species belongs to one of 234 families. Sometime in the mid-1990s I decided that I wanted to see all those families. There was no particular reason; it simply seemed like a good idea to see groupings of related species. It
became a goal, and quite a slug. I always plan exhaustively for
overseas birding trips. The goal of seeing all bird families often
complicated itineraries and added considerable costs.

Some families are easy to tick. The 164 species of waterfowl and 144 species of rail are scattered across the globe. It is impossible to go anywhere in South America without seeing some of the 302 species of ovenbirds and their relatives. Other families are much more difficult, especially those with one or two species in remote and difficult-to-access places; these include Hypocolius, Spotted Elachura, Shoebill, Kagu, Magellanic Plover, Egyptian Plover, Plains-wanderer, Bristlehead and Rockfowl. Others such as Australia's scrub-birds and the Rail-babbler of south-east Asia are skulking and hard to find.

Okarito Brown Kiwi - Franz Joseph, New Zealand: Family Kiwis (5 spp)

Seeing the final
three families on my world list took almost three years. In January
2013, with Bill Watson and Tony Palliser, I saw Hypocolius in the
desert of the Greater Rann of Kutch in north-west India. In May 2015,
again with Bill Watson and Tony Palliser, I saw Spotted Elachura in
the rainforest of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in north-east India.
There is symmetry to this; Tony has just returned from a trip to
Argentina where he also clocked up the 234 families.

Superb Lyrebird - Woy Woy, Australia:Family Lyrebirds (2 spp)

I have long followed
the taxonomy of The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World,
meaning that for all intents and purposes, I've seen all the world's
bird families. Others follow the differing taxonomy of the checklist
published by the International Ornithological Congress. If I had been
in the IOC camp, I would have one more family to go, the Wattled Ploughbill of New Guinea, which I have heard but not seen in the field.

Yucatan Jay - Tulum, Mexico: Family Crows, Jays & Magpies (124 spp)

As it was, the radically changing face of taxonomy due to the technology of DNA made the task of seeing the world's families increasingly difficult as time progressed. Until recently, for instance, Spotted Elachura was thought not to have even its own genus, but DNA sequencing showed it was a highly distinctive taxa, warranting its own family. Another one that unexpectedly had to be added to the wishlist.

Abyssinian Roller - Waza, Cameroon: Family Rollers (12 spp)

For now, I can
reflect on some on the pleasures of seeing those 234 families.
The Kagu of New Caledonia was only just returning from the brink of
extinction when I saw it in 2000; Yves Letocart, the celebrated French
scientist researching the bird, led me to a gorgeously displaying
male. An anxious wait of several hours preceded the fantastic
spectacle of a group of Grey-necked Rockfowl bouncing about the walls
of a cave in Korup National Park, Cameroon, in 2006.

My first Hoatzin, a
juvenile in Venezuela in 1995, looked positively prehistoric as it
clambered about the foliage with clawed wings. Almost as unworldly
was the solitary Shoebill stalking the shallows of Akegara in Rwanda
in 1990, shortly before that lovely country was torn asunder by civil
strife. A lone male Prezvalski's Rosefinch shone like a red beacon in the midst of the stark plains of China's Qinghai province in 2007. Back home in Australia, few things are as enchanting as a
lyrebird - be it Superb or Albert's - in full song, while a male Regent
Bowerbird in the sun never disappoints.

Puerto Rican Rody - Guanico, Puerto Rico: Family Todies (5 spp)

With 234 bird
families in the bag, where to next? There are more than 10,000 bird
species in the world: despite everything, I've see just 75 per cent of those.

Sunday, 10 January 2016

The campaign to protect the Yandina Creek Wetland on Queensland's Sunshine Coast has taken a turn for the worse, with the entire 200-hectare site being drained for the second time, this time in defiance of assurances by Queensland Government authorities. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is urged to intervene to protect a site that had national and international significance as a waterbird refuge before it was drained.It has emerged that the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and the Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH) are either unable or unwilling to force floodgates to be opened to replenish the wetland, which at this time last year was frequented by hundreds of migratory shorebirds and other waterbirds, several of which were nesting. The move is particularly unfortunate because the Sunshine Coast Council and private conservation reserve groups had been indicating that acquiring the site for a reserve might be possible with financial assistance from the Queensland Government. As an ecotourism destination with no parallels in the region, there is growing awareness that the site has great potential as an economic drawcard for the Sunshine Coast.

Yandina Creek Wetland this week

The land had been used for sugarcane production until it was sold to family trusts with links to property developers 12 years ago. During that time, floodgates connecting the tidal Yandina Creek to cane farm canals fell into disrepair, allowing the site to be inundated and re-establishing wetland habitat that occurred there naturally before the development of the cane industry in the 1920s.The result was a diverse and rich wetland that was a magnet for rare and threatened species, including large numbers of migratory shorebirds. The then Abbott Government opted to ignore its obligations under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to protect endangered species on the site, along with its commitment under six international treaties to protect the habitat of migratory shorebirds. Although Tony Abbott has been replaced by Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister, Environment Minister Greg Hunt has reiterated his intention to do nothing to protect the site.

Yandina Creek Wetland before it was drained

Present land zoning in the area
does not allow the site to be subdivided. The landowners leased
the site back to the original cane farmer owners last year. The
farmers replaced the broken floodgates and the wetland was drained in July in just two days after three newly installed gates were shut. However, one
gate was reopened in September following intervention by DAF,
which was concerned about the potentially unlawful killing of
mangroves and other protected vegetation resulting from the draining. As soon as the wetland was
partially replenished, waterbirds began returning.

DAF said at the time it was
the intention of the department to work towards the gradual
restoration of water flow to the wetland. Complicating matters, however,
was the prospect of acid sulfate pollution being caused by the
draining: arsenic and other toxic metals may have leached to the exposed land surface during the two months that the wetland was dry. DAF said the
landholders had agreed to monitor the site to ensure that acid
sulfate pollution was detected and contained.

Floodgates shut

It now emerges that the single
floodgate opened last September has been shut again. The wetland has
been drained for the second time. An inspection this week from the
high water mark of Yandina Creek - the only point of legal access available to
the site for the public – shows that the entire wetland has been dry for several weeks.
Access tracks on the boundary are overgrown, suggesting that any work
to monitor acid sulfate pollution has been minimal. A fourth floodgate installed last year on a second canal linking the wetland to Yandina Creek was also shut.

DAF is understood to have discovered that acid sulphate acidification occurred when the site was drained last year. Its concern is that if water returns to the wetland too quickly, toxic metals could wash into Yandina Creek, killing fish and marine life. However, the area has been drained previously with no such pollution being noted. Moreover, any pollution would presumably be short-term and be more than offset by the environmental value of restoring the wetland.

Mangroves, reeds and other aquatic vegetation was either dead or showing signs of severe stress this week. No waterbirds were present. While kayaking along the nearby Maroochy River at low tide, I saw species of waterbird feeding along the narrow strip of exposed mud that would not normally be attracted to such habitat. Red-kneed Dotterels, Black-fronted Dotterels and Latham's Snipe were present in numbers; none of these birds habitually feed on tidal mudflats. All three were common in the wetland before it was drained; presumably they were displaced and are surviving in suboptimal conditions. Numbers of migratory Latham's Snipe in the wetland were sufficiently large to warrant the site being regarded as internationally significant under Commonwealth guidelines.

Yandina Creek Wetland this week

Government sources said that
contrary to assurances given last September, DAF was powerless to
force the opening of floodgates. The department's Boating
and Fisheries Patrol has a number of prosecution briefs with its
legal section relating to possible offences under the Fisheries Act
1994 and the Sustainable Planning act 2009. However, those interested in
protecting the wetland believe it is much more important to be opening
floodgates than prosecuting fourth generation cane farmer lessees
who, after all, are in a sense the meat in the sandwich as a
consequence of the wetlands controversy. Nor does it seem sensible to pursue prosecutions while doing nothing to address the problem at hand.

Government sources said that DEH could move to open floodgates by using powers under the Environmental Protection Act 1994. However, the office of Environment Minister Steve Miles has indicated there are no such powers available under the legislation that are applicable in the circumstances. Successive state governments in Queensland have a woeful record of enforcing environmental laws, which all too often are inexplicably inapplicable to various circumstances. Many of us live in hope that Minister Miles will be more proactive.

Red-kneed Dotterel on tidal mudflats: displaced

Those supporting the wetland campaign
are invited to urge the Premier to intervene to ensure that the site is protected. The wetland is comprised of two adjoining properties. One or both could be acquired with
contributions from the state, the Sunshine Coast Council and private organisations. Funding could be sourced from offsets, with some of the land to be subdivided and sold.The landholders and cane farmer lessees should not be penalised financially; surely it is possible for the authorities to negotiate a fair price. The Premier can be written to or emailed, both at
her ministerial office and electoral office below, asking her to move to open all four floodgates, while at the same time intervening to ensure the site is acquired and protected as a reserve, with the landholders being adequately compensated.Readers can write to write to:

White-tailed Tropicbird, White Tern, Sooty Tern, Tahiti Petrel and Pomarine and Arctic Jaegers were seen on the Sunshine Coast pelagic off Mooloolaba, Queensland, on Saturday January 9, 2016. The sea was as smooth as glass as we set off at 6.40am from the Mooloolaba Marina. Heading east we saw a few Common Terns and a few more Wedge-tailed Shearwaters before arriving beyond the shelf edge at 9am, 32 nautical miles offshore in 370 metres (26.36.054S; 153.43.621E).

Sooty Tern

The E-SE breeze struggled to reach 6 or 7 knots and stayed that way for the rest of this fine, hot day in a swell of up to 2 metres; the swell resulted from a long period of rough weather in the leadup to this trip. We had hoped for more wind but spirits lifted a little when the first Tahiti Petrel arrived almost as soon as we began laying a trail of shark liver burley. Tahiti Petrels were with us for the rest of the time we were off the shelf, as were small numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

As we drifted north with the burley trail we saw a couple of Wilson's Storm-Petrels - a scarce visitor in summer. A Sooty Tern livened things up before one of the group spotted (and photoghraphed) a distant White-tailed Tropicbird. Top bird of the day turned up just before noon when a pair of White Terns passed by. Also of interest out on the shelf was a large Tiger Shark which hung around the boat.

Tiger Shark

We turned around at 12.30pm, having drifted just 1.5 nautical miles in the windless conditions, with the intention of spending time looking for birds further inshore. Half way back we found a second White-tailed Tropicbird, this one obligingly closer but still fairly distant, high in the sky. We scored a light phase Pomarine Jaeger and later on a light phase Arctic Jaeger, along with a couple more Sooty Terns. We had pods of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins and Offshore Bottlenosed Dolphins almost side by side.

Offshore Bottle-nosed Dolphin

As we neared the shore our good run with terns continued with numbers of Little, White-winged and Common. A Brown Booby was seen distantly by one of the party. We arrived back at the marina at 3.20pm.